Center for Law, Diversity and Justice

About the Center for Law, Diversity and Justice

The Center for Law, Diversity, and Justice (CLDJ) provides an interdisciplinary approach to law, diversity and access to the legal system for under-served communities. The curriculum emphasizes critical examination of how race, class, gender, sexual orientation and disability intersect with the legal system.

With a focus in law, many of our courses are taught by attorneys and use law school textbooks. Students build the necessary skills for success after college: critical reading, writing, research, oral communication, and analytical ability. This program is a great fit for students who desire to effect change and who have the potential to act as leaders and role models in their communities using legal knowledge and processes.

Degree Options

Major – Interdisciplinary Concentration: Law, Diversity and Justice Emphasis

Minor – Law, Diversity and Justice

If you have questions about the Law, Diversity and Justice major or minor, please contact Assistant Professor Ceci Lopez, Director, Center for Law, Diversity & Justice (CLDJ) at:

E-mail Ceci.Lopez@wwu.edu phone (360) 650-2573

Upcoming Events

Please see  Center for Law, Diversity, and Justice on Facebook

 

Faculty

Ceci Lopez, JD, LLM: Director of LDJ, Tax Law

Babafemi Akinrinade, LLM, JSD: International Law, Human Rights

Delores Calderon, PhD, JD: Critical Race Theory and the Law

Regina Jefferies,  MSt, JD: International Law, Sociolegal Studies, Immigration Law

Graduate Profiles

 

“Once I decided to go to law school, it was only natural for me to do the LDJ program. It gave me the foundation to understand the structure of law classes, the legal system, and especially, it helped me to familiarize myself with how to tackle my legal education.”

        - Ceci Lopez, LDJ alumna
           JD, LLM in Taxation, University of Washington

 

 

 

 

 

 

“After taking the American Legal System course, I decided to make LDJ my concentration. Every course offered within the program has challenged me in ways I had never expected. I really have developed a passion for law and social justice. I want to be able to use that passion to contribute to the community.”

    -Sarah Ishmael, LDJ alumna
     M.Ed., PhD student in Multicultural Education, University of Wisconsin

 

 

 

 

 

“The Law Diversity and Justice program provided me a platform from which I could interrogate the ways through which identity is simultaneously contingent and contested by structures of power. Throughout my years at Western, the LDJ program was a consistent highlight of my college experience; the faculty are immensely knowledgeable, humble, and genuinely care about their students.”

        - Joaquin “Kenny” Torre, LDJ student